Monday, April 26, 2010

American Cultural Observation 210 : Modern Art and another Last Supper!

After the cowboyrific experience of last night I counterbalanced it with a visit to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern).

Gosh, what a beautiful art museum. The Modern was first granted a Charter from the State of Texas in 1892 as the "Fort Worth Public Library and Art Gallery", evolving through several name changes and different facilities in Fort Worth. The mission of the museum is "collecting, presenting and interpreting international developments in post-World War II art in all media."

The current building, designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando was opened in 2002. The "Modern" is located in the city's Cultural District, adjacent to the Kimbell Art Museum, designed by Louis I. Kahn, and near the Amon Carter Museum, designed by Philip Johnson. The building features five long, pavilions set into a reflecting pond. The structural engineering was provided by Thornton Tomasetti.

The Museum currently contains over 2,600 works of art in its 53,000 square feet (4,900 m2) of gallery space, putting it at the forefront of post World War II art collections in the central United States. The Permanent Collection includes more than 3,000 works including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Anselm Kiefer, Robert Motherwell, Susan Rothenberg, Jackson Pollock, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol.

Great was my joy to bump into another edition of Da Vinci's Last Supper! I totally forgot that Andy Warhol was commisioned to do a Last Supper. I think he ended doing 2o different variations on the theme.

After many years of silkscreen, oxidation, photography, etc., Warhol returned to painting with a brush in hand in a series of over 50 large collaborative works done with Jean-Michel Basquiat between 1984 and 1986. Despite negative criticism when these were first shown, Warhol called some of them "masterpieces," and they were influential for his later work.

The influence of the large collaborations with Basquiat can be seen in Warhol's The Last Supper cycle, his last and possibly his largest series, seen by some as "arguably his greatest," but by others as “wishy-washy, religiose” and “spiritless." It is also the largest series of religious-themed works by any U.S. artist.

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I am a South African serving with Mercy Ships currently stationed in the United States. Mercy Ships, a global charity who has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978, is following the example of Jesus, by bringing hope and healing to the forgotten poor, mobilizing people and resources worldwide, and serving all people without regard to race, gender or religion.

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